For the 4th birthday of The Rinkside Cafe, I decided to do something interesting.

For me, the name of this blog came to me in flight of fancy where I imagined a lovely cafe, similar to the indie cafe near my house right by the rink. The funny thing is, I can imagine that for some people, especially in North America, would imagine a rinkside cafe as a dingy concession stand that serves watered down hot chocolate in flimsy styrofoam cups. For me, the imaginary rinkside cafe never looked like that. It was always something of a combination of the rinkside restaurants you see in Asia as pictured here on the far side of the rink/where the EXP signs are:

And the indie coffee shops that are so popular around Toronto, like the Rooster (pictured here is the King East location):

And in the end, that’s what I wanted this blog to be: a place where you could watch figure skating and talk about it with friends.

Here’s to another year of skating, friends, discussions about skating and delicious beverages… at home or wherever you are that is!